Members of Congress and governors are under increasing pressure to regulate AI , but more than two dozen of them who spoke with Axios said they don't use the technology or have rarely done so. Why it matters: That striking admission — particularly among older, influential lawmakers — comes amid calls for an AI slowdown and warnings within the industry that it could end humanity if left unchecked. - Critics argue that it's impossible for politicians to grasp how rapidly the technology is changing — and the threats or scientific breakthroughs it might unleash — if they don't use it or even dismiss it. One House Democrat called it "f*cking absurd," arguing, "Anyone who's overseeing this has to be someone who's a regular user." -…
His new friends are not only his adversaries of yore, but the obstacles to policies he wants now—particularly peace in Iran. The post Trump May Miss His Principled Opponents appeared first on The American Conservative .
Politics Trump May Miss His Principled Opponents His new friends are not only his adversaries of yore, but the obstacles to policies he wants now—particularly peace in Iran. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) On the surface there are no three politicians more different than John Cornyn, Thomas Massie, and Bill Cassidy, the three Republican lawmakers whose current stints in Congress were recently ended by President Donald Trump. Massie is the only one of this trio who might have a political future . Although he lost by nearly 10 points, he won a shade more than 45 percent of the vote to Cornyn’s 36 percent and…Open
The senator claimed the president is at a "moment that will define" his legacy and warned that if Trump continues to pursue a peace deal with Iran then the U.S. risks a "perception of weakness."
The billion-dollar request for the Secret Service isn't dead. But it is in doubt. Why it matters: Senate Republicans are struggling to get comfortable with providing $220 million to "harden" security at the White House complex — including President Trump's new East Wing ballroom . Zoom in: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and the White House face a long week to learn if 50 Republicans — and the Senate parliamentarian — will sign off on the new funding as part of the $72 billion ICE and Border Patrol reconciliation package. - GOP senators were unmoved by a line-item lobbying effort from Secret Service director Sean Curran in a closed-door lunch on Tuesday, first reported by Axios. - "One of the biggest concerns on our…
Senate Republicans are calling on the Trump administration to clarify how it is interpreting the 60-day clock under the War Powers Act in its military campaign against Iran. Why it matters: The 60-day deadline, depending on who's counting, is arriving on requiring the president to seek authorization or wind down operations. The first strikes against Iran were on Feb. 28. - But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered a different view during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, suggesting the clock can "pause or stop" during a ceasefire. Zoom in: Republicans, including some who have flirted with supporting a war powers resolution , appeared open to Hegseth's interpretation. - "It sounds like there's some wiggle room he…
Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s under secretary of defense for policy, will testify before the House Armed Services Committee Thursday morning on the U.S. national defense strategy. The hearing comes two days after he faced questioning in the Senate. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized the Trump administration‘s National Defense Strategy, which was released in January. He argued that the blueprint — which downplays threats from China, focusing primarily on the Western Hemisphere — ignores implications of the Russia-Ukraine war and lacks information about interests in the Middle East amid the turmoil in Iran. President Trump and Pete Hegseth have defended the ongoing military…
Democrats called Saturday for Congress to act fast on war powers resolution votes after the Trump administration launched overnight strikes on Iran . Why it matters: President Trump launched the strikes without approval from Congress, triggering backlash from Democrats and one Republican. - The U.S. and Israel began "major combat operations" in Iran overnight with the aim of destroying the country's military capabilities and fostering regime change, Trump announced in a video statement. What they're saying: "The Senate should immediately return to session and vote on my War Powers Resolution to block the use of U.S. forces in hostilities against Iran," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said in a statement. - "Every single Senator needs to go on…
ICE is on a multi-billion-dollar quest for new immigration detention facilities, but they're increasingly facing pushback from an unlikely foe: Republicans. Why it matters: The Trump administration has prioritized investing tens of billions of dollars to increase how many people it can hold in immigration detention, and ICE has a limited amount of time to spend it. - While Republicans may back the president's immigration blitz on a national level, they've been leading voices of local pushback against ICE's warehouse expansion while hinting at an old refrain: not-in-my-backyard. The big picture: Republican elected officials in Mississippi, New Hampshire , Tennessee and beyond have fought proposed facilities in their states. - New…
